Maceo Parker plays with Lettuce. Photo by Allison Murphy

Soulive kicked off its second annual Bowlive residency at Brooklyn, NY’s Brooklyn Bowl last night. The trio will play ten shows at the venue throughout March with a myriad of special guests, openers and other featured performers.

Last night’s show featured performances by Royal Family records associates Nigel Hall Band, Soulive, Lettuce and Maceo Parker. Brooklyn Bowl principal and Relix/Jambands.com publisher Peter Shapiro introduced the musicians at the start of the night and surprised all in attendance by leading a 600-person tequila toast from the venue’s stage. The night also celebrated the release of a new book based around last night’s Bowlive residency by longtime Relix/Jambands.com photographers, Michael Weintrob, Dino Perrucci and Allison Murphy.

Nigel Hall Band kicked off last night’s show with a short set at 9 PM. For this performance, Hall’s band featured Soulive/Lettuce guitarist Eric Krasno on bass, Lettuce’s Adam Smirnoff on guitar, Soulive drummer Alan Evans on congos and Soulive/Lettuce keyboardist Neal Evans on bass keyboards. Mixing things up from last year’s format, Soulive played next, followed by the evening’s special guest, Lettuce featuring Maceo Parker. Soulive’s 45-minute set featured a selection of original songs and material from the band’s album of Beatles covers, Rubber Soulive.

Lettuce closed the night with a two-part extended show. The first portion of the group’s set featured original material and cover songs associated with the Lettuce repertoire. The second portion of Lettuce’s set found the group backing Parker on a number of his signature songs, such as “Pass The Peas,” “Get Up on The Dance Floor,” “Me and The Boys and “We Love You.”

Parker first performed with Lettuce at Live Oak, FL’s Bear Creek festival in November and collaborated with members of the band aboard Jam Cruise in January. He also sat in with the band for an extended set of music at Brooklyn Bowl in late January as part of a benefit for Hatti.

Click here for Rob Chapman’s photo essay of the night

Bowlive will continue tonight with performances by Soulive, Lettuce, Pharoahe Monch and WAX. Additional reporting by Meredith Berke